[‘Become an ambassador if you like’: H. A. L. Fisher [Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher], English historian and Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to Beresford-Hope, congratulating him on his ‘triumph in the Diplomatic Service examination’.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. At his death in 1917, H. T. Beresford-Hope was Third Secretary at the British Legation at Athens; and he left the enormous sum of £67,167. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Beresford-Hope’ and signed ‘H. Fisher’. Twenty-eight lines of text. He begins a gently teasing letter by stating that he is delighted to hear of Beresford-Hope’s ‘triumph in the Diplomatic Service examination’, his wife joining him in sending congratulations. ‘Herbert is a good man and moreover a man of a [sic] Balliol, and it is a distinction to have got ahead of him.’ He presumes that Beresford-Hope is now ‘the complete foreigner retaining only the slightest acquaintance with your native tongue’. He urges him to ‘Become an ambassador if you like, the sooner the better, but do not plunge us into war, or in any way imitate the proceedings of that courteous but unwise gentleman, the late Duc de Grammont. Eradicate by your personal example the false maxim now so prevalent that England expects every diplomat to play polo.’ He thinks that BH has ‘a chance of going ahead, judging from the deplorable feebleness of so many of our Foreign Blue books, notably the recent collection of reports in Foreign Income boxes, compiled by the second secretaries of our legations.’ He ends by inviting him to ‘Come and see us when you are next this way.’